The Sunday Salon with Alice-Azania Jarvis The Sunday Salon

Christina Patterson is a journalist and author, whose new book Outside The Sky Is Blue, is an absolutely beautiful reflection on family, illness, grief and love. I worked with Christina many years ago. In fact, she sat next to me when I was a very green reporter working on the gossip column of the Independent newspaper. She, in contrast, was an extremely erudite and glamorous columnist, writing about big issues like politics and literature - and she was absolutely lovely to me. What I hadn’t realised was that she’d had to deal with an enormous amount of grief and hardship in her life. Outside The Sky Is Blue recounts the story of her family - whom she calls, at one point, “the mad, sad Pattersons”, including her sister’s schizophrenia, the premature deaths of her mother, father and brother, and her own struggles with lupus and cancer. This might sound depressing, but in fact Outside The Sky Is Blue is very far from a misery memoir. What Christina has done so well is inject humour, nostalgia, and even glamour into her story, whether that’s in recounting her strange time as a member of an evangelical youth group and her exciting, action-packed rise through the world of publishing and the arts and into journalism; or relaying anecdotes about her love life. I absolutely adored the book, and I loved speaking to Christina about it. What a special interview to end on. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/outside-the-sky-is-blue/christina-patterson/9781472282620

Twitter: @aliceazania / @queenchristina_

Instagram: @aliceazania / @queenchristinawriter

Edited by Chelsey Moore

I adored this episode. Lily King is the author of five novels - including, most recently, the phenomenal best seller Writers and Lovers, which documents the creative and romantic travails of aspiring writer Casey Peabody. It's one of my favorite books of the year and so speaking to Lily felt like a fitting finale to this series. I loved hearing about everything from why she writes by hand to how she forces herself to work even when she's not feeling inspired and so much more. It was a gorgeous conversation and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sarah Pearse on being fangirled by Reese Witherspoon and how to get published

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's Chief Theatre Critic and the author of the phenomenally powerful Consumed: A Sister's Story. It's an astonishing read, which tells the story of Arifa's sister's death from tuberculosis, which was somehow missed by medics at a top London hospital. It delves into the aftermath - Arifa’s search for answers to questions such as whether her sister’s history of poor mental health meant she was taken less seriously, and spools back to their childhood, growing up in poverty in North London having moved to the UK from Lahore. It examines the complexities of sibling relationships, the bonds, shared behaviours, and the arguments, and looks at Arifa and her sister's struggle with binge eating. It's a brilliant, multilayered book - and I found speaking to Arifa about how she wrote it absolutely fascinating.

Buy the book:https://www.waterstones.com/book/consumed/arifa-akbar/9781529347524

Edited by Chelsey Moore

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